One of my favourite authors, John Lanchester, has written What We Talk About When We Talk About The Tube. It offers his take on the District Line. Broadcaster & journalist Paul Morley will tackle the Bakerloo line with Earthbound. Each of the £5 line paperbacks will be published by Penguin Books next March.

Other books by Penguin for the 150th anniversary include a definitive history of the system, a book of poems
and philosophical works taking the concept of transit as their starting
point and Mark Ovenden is writing a book dedicated to the London Underground's iconic design from its maps to its posters.

Mike Brown, LU's managing director said: "We are
really excited to be working with Penguin Books for this important
anniversary, especially as it was a trip by rail that inspired the
creation of Penguin Books and [because] both organisations share a
history of using the same graphic designers."

I was lucky enough to attend the launch of London Underground map expert, Max Roberts' new labour of love Underground Maps Unravelled, a few weeks ago. Max describes the book as an "in-depth analysis of how schematic maps assist the user, when they
fail, and the psychological theories that explain why. It asks whether
traditional design techniques are suited to today’s complex networks,
and explores what happens when the rules are broken. The result is an
astonishing collection of maps for cities worldwide that challenge
preconceptions about the nature of effective design."